Creative Discussion – When Is It Time To Let An Idea Die?
It is time once again to engage the creative community in another discussion where we examine elements of the creative process. In this installment of our Creative Discussion we are asking for the design communities input on what signs tell you that you have come to the point where you need to throw in the towel on an idea. You have worked on it, and tried to attack it from several different directions and nothing seems to be working. So how do you know when that time has come, and it is better to move on to another idea and simply let the other die?
Remember this is an open discussion with the creative community, so feel free to chime in below in the comments to keep the flow of dialog moving. After leaving the discussion open for the month, we will be compiling some of the responses into a post on the topic at hand, so be sure to keep checking in on the talk as things develop.
When Is It Time To Let An Idea Die?
Alright everybody, no holding back now…Discuss!
Rob is the talented author and graphic designer, celebrated podcaster and poet, who is now the co-editor and imaginative co-contributor of Fuel Your Creativity. With a background working through most areas of the arts, Rob works from a creative wellspring that shows no signs of running dry.
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Never say die!
I don’t think there’s ever a time to give up on an idea. Even when I feel like I’ve hit a brick wall, I take elements of my original idea into another draft. Creativity is a fluid process, not with stops and starts but with plateaus. The starting levels build a foundation for the peak.
I am not referring to the creative process halting, I am only talking about an idea. I am not saying throw in the towel on creating altogether, but simply, when you have examined every avenue that you know of with an idea and you still cannot make it work, what do you do?
I like the idea you mention of transferring elements from the project into another. I have done that on numerous occasions, especially with my poetry. Having an idea just not come together, but not being able to let go of some of the lines from the piece. I would say, that is one way of letting the idea die. Because you have abandoned the original idea and gone somewhere differently with it.
And just for measure, never say never! ;p
When you look at what you´re doing, and you think it is bad, and you no longer feel any kind of will to keep on working that idea, it may be the time to let it die. But, I think, that before letting it die, the best is to give it a rest. When you´re too involved with your work, you´ll be the worst person to judge it, so step back from it. For a few hours, days, weeks, whatever… Go work on something else, and when you´ll come back to it, you´ll probably have a better perspective of what can be done to make it work. If you still feel the same way than before, then just put it on your archive of failed projects.
I agree. Try to not be too hasty in your concession of defeat. I like the idea of letting things set and then coming back to them with a more removed perspective. I think is extremely beneficial to the creative process. Thanks!
I think you let it die when you realize you’re already trying to cultivate one too many, therefore you know that going for it will only result in mediocre execution. Better yet, it’s a good time to give the idea away.
That awareness of ‘cultivating one too many projects at once’ seems apt for the ‘creative community’, while I don’t believe one should ever let one’s projects ‘die’… there may be times when taking stock to hone the process can be helpful to realizing that/those which one is most truly passionate about & committed to…
It is certainly not an easy decision to reach, the letting the idea die. But I think that if we too rigidly cling to that idea that it is not okay to ‘fail’ or ‘give in’ then we are setting ourselves up for failure. Because we are either going to continue pushing at an idea that is going nowhere until we either compromise the quality just to get it done, or we stress ourselves unnecessarily to try and make it come together when it just isn’t going to.
As a writer I have to believe that while my mind is never at full rest (there is always some plot ideas developing in there), I cannot make every idea I have work. For whatever reason, it has been overdone and is moving towards the cliche`, too many holes in the idea that cannot be reasonably resolved, etc… In those cases, holding on too tightly to the idea that I must see them all through, is how the creative world craps out stuff like Kindergarten Cop.
Again, I like your idea of further assessing the project. Again, I do not think we should ever give up fighting for an idea on a whim. It should be thought out, and re-approached.
I think most of the ideas should be stored in some notebook you always travel with. The thing is that if you are thinking about throwing an idea, you know that there WAS something interesting in that idea. Give it a rest. Put it in your book and it if by coming back at it it does grow or evolve the way you would like, then it might be one solution for another futur design project!
It happened to me yesterday, I was shuffling in a old notebook of ideas and I found 1 really interesting that had not been used at that time. It has a big potential and I am sure I will use it soon! Maybe for a personal project.
Oh, nice call on the giving the idea to someone else. I think this is an awesome way to keep the idea alive. Sure it may not go exactly where you wanted it too, but since you couldn’t get it there anyway, I think this is a fantastic solution. Also, I like the being self aware bit, too. Thanks, Brandon.
I usually try to get a second (or third) pair of eyes involved. Sometimes you’ve lived with something for so long that your view becomes a bit narrow. I find if even someone else’s input can’t help resuscitate it, then it’s time to let the idea go. Or like Brandon said, give it away.
I agree that having the outside input can be a project saver! Being on the verge of frustrated collapse over an idea, and having someone else come in, so fresh and unaware of the walls you’ve hit (which you are still probably mulling over) and just offer that gentle nudge in the right direction is priceless. Like you said, you may just be too close to be able to step back and look at it fresh. Thanks, Yaritsa, great insights.
Inserting a little quote on this, equally good for creative types & entrepreneurs for when ‘the going gets a little daunting’ :
“I don’t search, I find!” -Picasso.
I like the confidence contained in that quote, but as I said before, I think we need to be careful that we are not too rigid in our ‘never give in’ mentality, or we may just creatively back ourselves into a corner that we cannot satisfactorily work ourselves out of. Again, just my humble… :)
On a practical level I also think that anything that might be seeming truly impossible is exactly the type of candidate to be applying creativity to!
Also going to share the best piece of advice someone ever gave me: “Be careful, but not too careful”.
I see your quote and raise you another quote, “Do, or do not. There is no try.” -Yoda :)
But seriously, I agree with what chunkydesign said above. Step away from it for a while and come back, you may not be in the right frame of mind to take it to the level it could become.
Sometimes it’s as simple as a walk or a hot shower to the right music or complete silence. If none of that works, Kill It!
Yoda, ftw! No but seriously, I do like the quote. It still speaks with confidence, but allows for the possibility of saying, ‘nope, not gonna happen’. Again, stepping back can prove very helpful. And I agree, give it time, but then give it the axe.
This is not one I answered immediately, mainly because in this case (like in my non-creative life) I am a bit of a packrat. It is very hard for me to let go of anything…like anything. I have gotten much better at it, but still there are certain ideas that I know I am still clinging too that I should probably let drift away at this point.
Again, the taking time away, is something I am pro at. I’ve got pieces of poems and short story ideas that I am still holding on to after fifteen years. So not only am I a creative packrat, I’m a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to this topic. Maybe I will find new inspirations in the discussion on how to approach or cut these loose after all this time.
I think I have this problem all the time! I have a whole bunch of “Monkey Ideas” (that’s trademarked. haha!) but I usually don’t have the funds or the time to make them happen. I’ve had so many business projects with all the branding design done but then… I realize that I’m poor (how’d that happen??) and that I can’t get it off the ground.
Personally, however, I don’t let it get to me because there have been some ideas that have gone well and I focus on those instead. So instead of letting ideas die, I put them to rest for later use and create new ones. Great question Rob!
Backburnering is a popular alternative to just throwing in the towel it would seem. I guess I should ask a follow up on how long to keep the backburner going for? Thanks for your comment, Tim, as always!
hmmm… that’s also a good question but, I, like you, am a packrat when it comes to ideas. I don’t think I can bring myself to turn my backburner off. I like having my ideas where I can get to them so that, maybe, one day, they can become a reality.
Also interesting, and I am sorta the opposite of a ‘packrat’, even though piles of work accumulates & too rapidly/voluminously to be comfortably maintainable, I also really enjoy the editing process, which is creatively integral since on average less than 1 percent of what goes into any of my project’s remains in the final synthesis of what I started out to realize it as… In that sense I have no qualms about killing/editing ideas, so long as I am aware of their being subsumed within the creation that they are inspiring…
I like the way you put that. ‘…In that sense I have no qualms about killing/editing ideas, so long as I am aware of their being subsumed within the creation that they are inspiring…’ Very nicely said.
I think “die” is a harsh term. Once you have an idea, you always have that idea. It just depends on if you do much with it. How many of us have piles of half-started bits, half-done drawings, and scribbled notes? I say once it no longer inspires you, or it is no longer relevant or exciting it gets set aside. But whether it conscious or not, elements are integrated into the “new” ideas we work on. And parts do get given away as we talk amongst ourselves and those move on to inspire another. Such is the way of creative. It fluid, it’s communal, it may rest for a while….but “die”?…I don’t really think it’s possible.
True, ‘die’ is a harsh term, it evokes a visceral response and that is why I used it. Because the idea of letting a creative idea die should be something that effects us viscerally. It should never be easy, it should never be done lightly, but if you are of the mind that every idea we have that goes unresolved adds a certain element of stress to our mind preventing true ‘rest’ and peace of mind (as is believed by many in the ‘Getting Things Done’ by David Allen tradition) then it is unhealthy as creatives to not concede eventually that we will not see something through and we are in fact, giving up on it. And passing it on to someone else, in a sense, is letting this happen for us. We have let go. Have let it pass on.
If the passion behind an idea is gone, no matter how amazing the idea is, it is as good as dead.
I agree, it would be a disservice to the idea to continue to force it.
“Good ideas don’t die, they’re just abandoned” – a paraphrase from Martin Scorsese.
Sometimes an idea can become beautiful in the hands of one and wither in the hands of another. If an idea is starting to with wither then it is time to bring in some reinforcements – as has already been mentioned, give it time, step back, look at it in a different way, get some feedback from some fresh eyes. If it’s still withering, then it is time to abandon the idea.
But this doesn’t mean that all hope is lost. Save your idea, this same idea work on a different project. Share your idea, someone else could use this inspiration. Good ideas never “die,” they exist in the ether of humanity. While an idea may not work with this project a good idea will find a new home somewhere else.
– enough soapboxing. To answer the question: when I have worked at a project and become sick of it and then stepped away for a few days (usually a week for me) and come back to it, if I’m still sick of it then it’s time to abandon the idea and head in a new direction.
Very well said, Eric. Very well, indeed. Never feel bad about soapboxing here. ;)
Jason Garrison is absolutely right. There is no need to say die. If an idea doesn’t work know the most important thing for you is to make a deep analysis and realize what is going wrong. Don’t stop doing the analysis of mistakes. Correct your mistakes and you will see that any idea can work.
An idea as it is never dies i mean theres times when im just playing whit PS or ILL and sometimes brilliant ideas comes to me and seems wonderfull at first, but then it just evolve into something else, it could go to both ways, it can change ur first idea completly or modifiying the current, so im not sure if theres a time when you can say “now is the time to quit” cause at lest on my case ive never found me saying ok thats it for this idea, like i said it just keep evolving onto another one.
I agree with much of what has been said above.
I think the main thing I try to keep in mind is to understand when to let go and move in another direction. Don’t be charmed by the initial “oh this will be cool” feeling if you have put serious effort and it is still weak. It is easy to hang on too tightly to a style/element/overall concept and drive it into the ground just because you thought it was going to be cool. Make sure you get regular feedback, and don’t be afraid of criticism. Accept your failures and learn from them. Maybe that idea that needs to “die” will be reincarnated into something else. If not, then at least you have gone through the mental exercise of playing with it and learning something from it.
Some of my best work has come after trying way too hard to make something work, then realizing “oh that’s stupid” and starting over. It may have been “stupid” for the design problem at hand, but it wasn’t worthless since I probably gained insight on a subconscious level from it, which I will reap the rewards of later.
Yes this is really interesting and getting into the heart of it, of how the creative mind actually works, since it is recorded at least statistically by numerous accounts that for many people, in all creative endeavors, that key insights/big breakthroughs, as in the ‘light-bulb going off!’, quite often is achieved during the rest period immediately following the most intense periods of strenuously exhausting work on an idea, and I guess this awareness does explain practically in part how the numerous comment threads about the impossibility of an idea ‘dying’ might in fact be so?
Whether choosing to ‘not have the time’ to prioritize the pursuit of a particular idea, or, of being conscious that this is how the creative mind works, and with such awareness perhaps choosing instead to not give oneself the excuse to let go of a high-priority ‘idea’, I guess maybe still begs a question about ‘creative priorities’?
I think that it also depends on the type of creative person you are. Some people are full of creative ideas, other people have less, but more “profound” ones.